Method and apparatus for transmitting buffer status report by wireless node in wireless communication system

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a method of transmitting a buffer status report (BSR) by a wireless node in a wireless communication system. In particular, the method includes the steps of: receiving first logical channel group (LCG) configuration information including identities of LCGs from a network; generating the BSR including a LCG field; and transmitting the BSR to the network, wherein a length of the LCG field is configured according to a highest value of the identities of LCGs.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, andmore particularly, to a method for transmitting a buffer status report(BSR) in a wireless communication system and an apparatus therefor.

BACKGROUND ART

Introduction of new radio communication technologies has led toincreases in the number of user equipments (UEs) to which a base station(BS) provides services in a prescribed resource region, and has also ledto increases in the amount of data and control information that the BStransmits to the UEs. Due to typically limited resources available tothe BS for communication with the UE(s), new techniques are needed bywhich the BS utilizes the limited radio resources to efficientlyreceive/transmit uplink/downlink data and/or uplink/downlink controlinformation. In particular, overcoming delay or latency has become animportant challenge in applications whose performance critically dependson delay/latency

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION Technical Problem

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a methodperforming measurement by a user equipment (UE) in a wirelesscommunication system and an apparatus therefor.

Solution to Problem

The object of the present invention can be achieved by the method fortransmitting a buffer status report (BSR) by a wireless node in awireless communication system comprising steps of receiving firstlogical channel group (LCG) configuration information includingidentities of LCGs from a network; generating the BSR including a LCGfield; and transmitting the BSR to the network, wherein a length of theLCG field is configured according to a highest value of the identitiesof LCGs.

Further, it is suggested a wireless node in a wireless communicationsystem comprising a memory; and at least one processor coupled to thememory. More specifically, the at least one processor is configured to,receive first logical channel group (LCG) configuration informationincluding identities of LCGs from a network; generate a buffer statusreport (BSR) including a LCG field; and transmit the BSR to the network,wherein a length of the LCG field is configured according to a highestvalue of the identities of LCGs.

Preferably, when second LCG configuration information is received fromthe network, the length of the LCG field is reconfigured according to ahighest value of the identities of LCGs included in the second LCGconfiguration information.

Preferably, the length of the LCG field is configured to floor (Y/8)plus 1 bytes, when highest value of the identities of LCGs is equal toor larger than Y and less than Y+8 (where Y is multiple of 8).

Preferably, each bit of the LCG field indicates whether buffer sizeinformation of a corresponding LCG is present or not in the BSR.

Preferably, a number of the identities of LCGs is also variableaccording to a number of node or flow/radio bearer served by thewireless node.

Preferably, the at least one processor is further configured toimplement at least one advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) functionbased on signals that control the wireless node.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

According to the aforementioned embodiments of the present invention,the wireless node can transmit the BSR efficiently.

Effects obtainable from the present invention may be non-limited by theabove mentioned effect. And, other unmentioned effects can be clearlyunderstood from the following description by those having ordinary skillin the technical field to which the present invention pertains.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention, illustrate embodiments of the inventionand together with the description serve to explain the principle of theinvention:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a communication system 1 to whichimplementations of the present disclosure is applied;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating examples of communication deviceswhich can perform a method according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates another example of a wireless device which canperform implementations of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of protocol stacks in a third generationpartnership project (3GPP) based wireless communication system;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a frame structure in a 3GPP basedwireless communication system;

FIG. 6 illustrates a data flow example in the 3GPP new radio (NR)system;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of PDSCH time domain resource allocationby PDCCH, and an example of PUSCH time resource allocation by PDCCH;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of physical layer processing at atransmitting side;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of physical layer processing at areceiving side.

FIG. 10 illustrates operations of the wireless devices based on theimplementations of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 shows an example of IAB based RAN architectures;

FIG. 12 shows examples of eBSR format according to the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 13 shows an example of a BSR procedure according to the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 14 shows another example of a BSR procedure according to thepresent disclosure.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary implementations ofthe present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. The detailed description, which will be givenbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings, is intended toexplain exemplary implementations of the present disclosure, rather thanto show the only implementations that can be implemented according tothe disclosure. The following detailed description includes specificdetails in order to provide a thorough understanding of the presentdisclosure. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the artthat the present disclosure may be practiced without such specificdetails.

The following techniques, apparatuses, and systems may be applied to avariety of wireless multiple access systems. Examples of the multipleaccess systems include a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, afrequency division multiple access (FD MA) system, a time divisionmultiple access (TD MA) system, an orthogonal frequency divisionmultiple access (OFDMA) system, a single carrier frequency divisionmultiple access (SC-FDMA) system, and a multicarrier frequency divisionmultiple access (M C-FD MA) system. CD MA maybe embodied through radiotechnology such as universal terrestrial radio access (UTRA) orCDMA2000. TDMA may be embodied through radio technology such as globalsystem for mobile communications (GSM), general packet radio service(GPRS), or enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE). OFDMA may beembodied through radio technology such as institute of electrical andelectronics engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE802.20, or evolved UTRA (E-UTRA). UTRA is a part of a universal mobiletelecommunications system (UMTS). 3rd generation partnership project(3GPP) long term evolution (LTE) is a part of evolved UMTS (E-UMTS)using E-UTRA. 3GPP LTE employs OFDMA in DL and SC-FDMA in UL.LTE-advanced (LTE-A) is an evolved version of 3GPP LTE.

For convenience of description, implementations of the presentdisclosure are mainly described in regards to a 3GPP based wirelesscommunication system. However, the technical features of the presentdisclosure are not limited thereto. For example, although the followingdetailed description is given based on a mobile communication systemcorresponding to a 3GPP based wireless communication system, aspects ofthe present disclosure that are not limited to 3GPP based wirelesscommunication system are applicable to other mobile communicationsystems. For terms and technologies which are not specifically describedamong the terms of and technologies employed in the present disclosure,the wireless communication standard documents published before thepresent disclosure may be referenced. For example, the followingdocuments may be referenced.

3GPP LTE

-   -   3GPP TS 36.211: Physical channels and modulation    -   3GPP TS 36.212: Multiplexing and channel coding    -   3GPP TS 36.213: Physical layer procedures    -   3GPP TS 36.214: Physical layer; Measurements    -   3GPP TS 36.300: Overall description    -   3GPP TS 36.304: User Equipment (UE) procedures in idle mode    -   3GPP TS 36.314: Layer 2—Measurements    -   3GPP TS 36.321: Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol    -   3GPP TS 36.322: Radio Link Control (RLC) protocol    -   3GPP TS 36.323: Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)    -   3GPP TS 36.331: Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol    -   3GPP NR (e.g. SG)    -   3GPP TS 38.211: Physical channels and modulation    -   3GPP TS 38.212: Multiplexing and channel coding    -   3GPP TS 38.213: Physical layer procedures for control    -   3GPP TS 38.214: Physical layer procedures for data    -   3GPP TS 38.215: Physical layer measurements    -   3GPP TS 38.300: Overall description    -   3GPP TS 38.304: User Equipment (UE) procedures in idle mode and        in RRC inactive state    -   3GPP TS 38.321: Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol    -   3GPP TS 38.322: Radio Link Control (RLC) protocol    -   3GPP TS 38.323: Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)    -   3GPP TS 38.331: Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol    -   3GPP TS 37.324: Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP)    -   3GPP TS 37.340: Multi-connectivity; Overall description

In the present disclosure, a user equipment (UE) may be a fixed ormobile device.

Examples of the UE include various devices that transmit and receiveuser data and/or various kinds of control information to and from a basestation (BS). In the present disclosure, a BS generally refers to afixed station that performs communication with a UE and/or another BS,and exchanges various kinds of data and control information with the UEand another B S. The BS maybe referred to as an advanced base station(ABS), a node-B (NB), an evolved node-B (eNB), a base transceiver system(BTS), an access point (AP), a processing server (PS), etc. Especially,a BS of the UMTS is referred to as a NB, a BS of the enhanced packetcore (EPC)/longterm evolution (LTE) system is referred to as an eNB, anda BS of the new radio (NR) system is referred to as a gNB.

In the present disclosure, a node refers to a point capable oftransmitting/receiving a radio signal through communication with a UE.Various types of BSs may be used as nodes irrespective of the termsthereof. For example, a BS, a node B (NB), an e-node B (eNB), apico-cell eNB (PeNB), a home eNB (HeNB), a relay, a repeater, etc. maybe a node. In addition, the node may not be a BS. For example, the nodemaybe a radio remote head (RRH) or a radio remote unit (RRU). The RRH orRRU generally has a lower power level than a power level of a B S. Sincethe RRH or RRU (hereinafter, RRH/RRU) is generally connected to the BSthrough a dedicated line such as an optical cable, cooperativecommunication between RRH/RRU and the BS can be smoothly performed incomparison with cooperative communication between BSs connected by aradio line. At least one antenna is installed per node. The antenna mayinclude a physical antenna or an antenna port or a virtual antenna.

In the present disclosure, the term “cell” may refer to a geographicarea to which one or more nodes provide a communication system, or referto radio resources. A “cell” of a geographic area may be understood ascoverage within which a node can provide service using a carrier and a“cell” as radio resources (e.g. time-frequency resources) is associatedwith bandwidth (BW) which is a frequency range configured by thecarrier. The “cell” associated with the radio resources is defined by acombination of downlink resources and uplink resources, for example, acombination of a downlink (DL) component carrier (CC) and an uplink (UL)CC. The cell maybe configured by downlink resources only, or may beconfigured by downlink resources and uplink resources. Since DLcoverage, which is a range within which the node is capable oftransmitting a valid signal, and UL coverage, which is a range withinwhich the node is capable of receiving the valid signal from the UE,depends upon a carrier carrying the signal, the coverage of the nodemaybe associated with coverage of the “cell” of radio resources used bythe node. Accordingly, the term “cell” may be used to represent servicecoverage of the node sometimes, radio resources at other times, or arange that signals using the radio resources can reach with validstrength at other times.

In the present disclosure, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH),and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) refer to a set oftime-frequency resources or resource elements (REs) carrying downlinkcontrol information (DCI), and a set of time-frequency resources or REscarrying downlink data, respectively. In addition, a physical uplinkcontrol channel (PUCCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUS CH) and aphysical random access channel (PRACH) refer to a set of time-frequencyresources or REs carrying uplink control information (UCI), a set oftime-frequency resources or REs carrying uplink data and a set oftime-frequency resources or REs carrying random access signals,respectively.

In carrier aggregation (CA), two or more C Cs are aggregated. A UE maysimultaneously receive or transmit on one or multiple CCs depending onits capabilities. CA is supported for both contiguous and non-contiguousCCs. When CA is configured the UE only has one radio resource control(RRC) connection with the network. At RRC connectionestablishment/re-establishment/handover, one serving cell provides thenon-access stratum (NAS) mobility information, and at RRC connectionre-establishment/handover, one serving cell provides the security input.This cell is referred to as the Primary Cell (P C ell). The PC ell is acell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE eitherperforms the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates theconnection re-establishment procedure. Depending on UE capabilities,Secondary Cells (SCells) can be configured to form together with the PCell a set of serving cells. An SCell is a cell providing additionalradio resources on top of Special Cell. The configured set of servingcells for a UE therefore always consists of one PCell and one or moreSCells. In the present disclosure, for dual connectivity (DC) operation,the term “special Cell” refers to the PCell of the master cell group(MCG) or the P S Cell of the secondary cell group (SCG), and otherwisethe term Special Cell refers to the P Cell. An SpCell supports physicaluplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission and contention-based randomaccess, and is always activated. The MCG is a group of serving cellsassociated with a master node, comprising of the SpCell (PCell) andoptionally one or more SCells. The SCG is the subset of serving cellsassociated with a secondary node, comprising of the PSCell and zero ormore SCells, for a UE configured with DC. For a UE in RRC_CONNECTED notconfigured with CA/DC there is only one serving cell comprising of thePCell. For a UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA/DC the term “servingcells” is used to denote the set of cells comprising of the SpCell(s)and all SCells.

The MCG is a group of serving cells associated with a master BS whichterminates at least S1-MME, and the SCG is a group of serving cellsassociated with a secondary BS that is providing additional radioresources for the UE but is not the master BS. The SCG includes aprimary SC ell (PSCell) and optionally one or more SC ells. In DC, twoMAC entities are configured in the UE: one for the MCG and one for theSCG. Each MAC entity is configured by RRC with a serving cell supportingPUC CH transmission and contention based Random Access. In the presentdisclosure, the term SpCell refers to such cell, whereas the term SCellrefers to other serving cells. The term SpCell either refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG depending on if the MAC entityis associated to the MCG or the SCG, respectively.

In the present disclosure, monitoring a channel refers to attempting todecode the channel. For example, monitoring a physical downlink controlchannel (PDCCH) refers to attempting to decode PDCCH(s) (or PDCCHcandidates).

In the present disclosure, “C-RNTI” refers to a cell RNTI, “SI-RNTI”refers to a system information RNTI, “P-RNTI” refers to a paging RNTI,“RA-RNTI” refers to a random access RNTI, “SC-RNTI” refers to a singlecell RNTI”, “SL-RNTI” refers to a sidelink RNTI, “SPSC-RNTI” refers to asemi-persistent scheduling C-RNTI, and “CS-RNTI” refers to a configuredscheduling RNTI.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a communication system 1 to whichimplementations of the present disclosure is applied.

Three main requirement categories for 5G include (1) a category ofenhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), (2) a category of massive machine typecommunication (mMTC), and (3) a category of ultra-reliable and lowlatency communications (URLLC).

Partial use cases may require a plurality of categories for optimizationand other use cases may focus only upon one key performance indicator(KPI). 5G supports such various use cases using a flexible and reliablemethod.

eMBB far surpasses basic mobile Internet access and covers abundantbidirectional work and media and entertainment applications in cloud andaugmented reality. Data is one of 5G core motive forces and, in a 5Gera, a dedicated voice service may not be provided for the first time.In 5G, itis expected that voice will be simply processed as anapplication program using data connection provided by a communicationsystem. Main causes for increased traffic volume are due to an increasein the size of content and an increase in the number of applicationsrequiring high data transmission rate. A streaming service (of audio andvideo), conversational video, and mobile Internet access will be morewidely used as more devices are connected to the Internet. These manyapplication programs require connectivity of an always turned-on statein order to push real-time information and alarm for users. Cloudstorage and applications are rapidly increasing in a mobilecommunication platform and may be applied to both work andentertainment. The cloud storage is a special use case which acceleratesgrowth of uplink data transmission rate. 5G is also used for remote workof cloud. When a tactile interface is used, 5G demands much lowerend-to-end latency to maintain user good experience. Entertainment, forexample, cloud gaming and video streaming, is another core element whichincreases demand for mobile broadband capability. Entertainment isessential for a smartphone and a tablet in any place including highmobility environments such as a train, a vehicle, and an airplane. Otheruse cases are augmented reality for entertainment and informationsearch. In this case, the augmented reality requires very low latencyand instantaneous data volume.

In addition, one of the most expected 5G use cases relates a functioncapable of smoothly connecting embedded sensors in all fields, i.e.,mMTC. It is expected that the number of potential IoT devices will reach204 hundred million up to the year of 2020. An industrial IoT is one ofcategories of performing a main role enabling a smart city, assettracking, smart utility, agriculture, and security infrastructurethrough 5G.

URLLC includes a new service that will change industry through remotecontrol of main infrastructure and an ultra-reliable/availablelow-latency link such as a self-driving vehicle. A level of reliabilityand latency is essential to control a smart grid, automatize industry,achieve robotics, and control and adjust a drone.

5G is a means of providing streaming evaluated as a few hundred megabitsper second to gigabits per second and may complement fiber-to-the-home(FTTH) and cable-based broadband (or DOCSIS). Such fast speed is neededto deliver TV in resolution of 4K or more (6K, 8K, and more), as well asvirtual reality and augmented reality. Virtual reality (VR) andaugmented reality (AR) applications include almost immersive sportsgames. A specific application program may require a special networkconfiguration. For example, for VR games, gaming companies need toincorporate a core server into an edge network server of a networkoperator in order to minimize latency.

Automotive is expected to be a new important motivated force in 5Gtogether with many use cases for mobile communication for vehicles. Forexample, entertainment for passengers requires high simultaneouscapacity and mobile broadband with high mobility. This is because futureusers continue to expect connection of high quality regardless of theirlocations and speeds. Another use case of an automotive field is an ARdashboard. The AR dashboard causes a driver to identify an object in thedark in addition to an object seen from a front window and displays adistance from the object and a movement of the object by overlappinginformation talking to the driver. In the future, a wireless moduleenables communication between vehicles, information exchange between avehicle and supporting infrastructure, and information exchange betweena vehicle and other connected devices (e.g., devices accompanied by apedestrian). A safety system guides alternative courses of a behavior sothat a driver may drive more safely drive, thereby lowering the dangerof an accident. The next stage will be a remotely controlled orself-driven vehicle. This requires very high reliability and very fastcommunication between different self-driven vehicles and between avehicle and infrastructure. In the future, a self-driven vehicle willperform all driving activities and a driver will focus only uponabnormal traffic that the vehicle cannot identify. Technicalrequirements of a self-driven vehicle demand ultra-low latency andultra-high reliability so that traffic safety is increased to a levelthat cannot be achieved by human being.

A smart city and a smart home/building mentioned as a smart society willbe embedded in a high-density wireless sensor network. A distributednetwork of an intelligent sensor will identify conditions for costs andenergy-efficient maintenance of a city or a home. Similar configurationsmay be performed for respective households. All of temperature sensors,window and heating controllers, burglar alarms, and home appliances arewirelessly connected. Many of these sensors are typically low in datatransmission rate, power, and cost. However, real-time HD video may bedemanded by a specific type of device to perform monitoring.

Consumption and distribution of energy including heat or gas isdistributed at a higher level so that automated control of thedistribution sensor network is demanded. The smart grid collectsinformation and connects the sensors to each other using digitalinformation and communication technology so as to act according to thecollected information. Since this information may include behaviors of asupply company and a consumer, the smart grid may improve distributionof fuels such as electricity by a method having efficiency, reliability,economic feasibility, production sustainability, and automation. Thesmart grid may also be regarded as another sensor network having lowlatency.

Mission critical application (e.g. e-health) is one of G use scenarios.A health part contains many application programs capable of enjoyingbenefit of mobile communication. A communication system may supportremote treatment that provides clinical treatment in a faraway place.Remote treatment may aid in reducing a barrier against distance andimprove access to medical services that cannot be continuously availablein a faraway rural area. Remote treatment is also used to performimportant treatment and save lives in an emergency situation. Thewireless sensor network based on mobile communication may provide remotemonitoring and sensors for parameters such as heart rate and bloodpressure.

Wireless and mobile communication gradually becomes important in thefield of an industrial application. Wiring is high in installation andmaintenance cost. Therefore, a possibility of replacing a cable withreconstructible wireless links is an attractive opportunity in manyindustrial fields. However, in order to achieve this replacement, it isnecessary for wireless connection to be established with latency,reliability, and capacity similar to those of the cable and managementof wireless connection needs to be simplified. Low latency and a verylow error probability are new requirements when connection to 5G isneeded.

Logistics and freight tracking are important use cases for mobilecommunication that enables inventory and package tracking anywhere usinga location-based information system. The use cases of logistics andfreight typically demand low data rate but require location informationwith a wide range and reliability.

Referring to FIG. 1, the communication system 1 includes wirelessdevices, base stations (BSs), and a network. Although FIG. 1 illustratesa 5G network as an example of the network of the communication system 1,the implementations of the present disclosure are not limited to the 5Gsystem, and can be applied to the future communication system beyond the5G system.

The BSs and the network may be implemented as wireless devices and aspecific wireless device 200 a may operate as a BS/network node withrespect to other wireless devices.

The wireless devices represent devices performing communication usingradio access technology (RAT) (e.g., 5G New RAT (NR)) or Long-TermEvolution (LTE)) and may be referred to as communication/radio/5Gdevices. The wireless devices may include, without being limited to, arobot 100 a, vehicles 100 b-1 and 100 b-2, an eXtended Reality (XR)device 100 c, a hand-held device 100 d, a home appliance 100 e, anInternet of Things (IoT) device 100 f, and an Artificial Intelligence(AI) device/server 400. For example, the vehicles may include a vehiclehaving a wireless communication function, an autonomous driving vehicle,and a vehicle capable of performing communication between vehicles. Thevehicles may include an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) (e.g., a drone).The XR device may include an Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality(VR)/Mixed Reality (MR) device and may be implemented in the form of aHead-Mounted Device (HMD), a Head-Up Display (HUD) mounted in a vehicle,a television, a smartphone, a computer, a wearable device, a homeappliance device, a digital signage, a vehicle, a robot, etc. Thehand-held device may include a smartphone, a smartpad, a wearable device(e.g., a smartwatch or a smartglasses), and a computer (e.g., anotebook). The home appliance may include a TV, a refrigerator, and awashing machine. The IoT device may include a sensor and a smartmeter.

In the present disclosure, the wireless devices 100 a to 100 f may becalled user equipments (UEs). A user equipment (UE) may include, forexample, a cellular phone, a smartphone, a laptop computer, a digitalbroadcast terminal, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portablemultimedia player (PMP), a navigation system, a slate personal computer(PC), a tablet PC, an ultrabook, a vehicle, a vehicle having anautonomous traveling function, a connected car, an unmanned aerialvehicle (UAV), an artificial intelligence (AI) module, a robot, anaugmented reality (AR) device, a virtual reality (VR) device, a mixedreality (MR) device, a hologram device, a public safety device, an MTCdevice, an IoT device, a medical device, a FinTech device (or afinancial device), a security device, a weather/environment device, adevice related to a 5G service, or a device related to a fourthindustrial revolution field. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) maybe,for example, an aircraft aviated by a wireless control signal without ahuman being onboard. The VR device may include, for example, a devicefor implementing an objector a background of the virtual world. The ARdevice may include, for example, a device implemented by connecting anobject or a background of the virtual world to an object or a backgroundof the real world. The MR device may include, for example, a deviceimplemented by merging an object or a background of the virtual worldinto an object or a background of the real world. The hologram devicemay include, for example, a device for implementing a stereoscopic imageof 360 degrees by recording and reproducing stereoscopic information,using an interference phenomenon of light generated when two laserlights called holography meet. The public safety device may include, forexample, an image relay device or an image device that is wearable onthe body of a user. The MTC device and the IoT device may be, forexample, devices that do not require direct human intervention ormanipulation. For example, the MTC device and the IoT device may includesmartmeters, vending machines, thermometers, smartbulbs, door locks, orvarious sensors. The medical device maybe, for example, a device usedfor the purpose of diagnosing, treating, relieving, curing, orpreventing disease. For example, the medical device may be a device usedfor the purpose of diagnosing, treating, relieving, or correcting injuryor impairment. For example, the medical device may be a device used forthe purpose of inspecting, replacing, or modifying a structure or afunction. For example, the medical device may be a device used for thepurpose of adjusting pregnancy. For example, the medical device mayinclude a device for treatment, a device for operation, a device for (invitro) diagnosis, a hearing aid, or a device for procedure. The securitydevice may be, for example, a device installed to prevent a danger thatmay arise and to maintain safety. For example, the security device maybe a camera, a CCTV, a recorder, or a black box. The FinTech device maybe, for example, a device capable of providing a financial service suchas mobile payment. For example, the FinTech device may include a paymentdevice or a point of sales (POS) system. The weather/environment devicemay include, for example, a device for monitoring or predicting aweather/environment.

The wireless devices 100 a to 100 f may be connected to the network 300via the BSs 200. An AI technology maybe applied to the wireless devices100 a to 100 f and the wireless devices 100 a to 100 f may be connectedto the AI server 400 via the network 300. The network 300 maybeconfigured using a 3G network, a 4G (e.g., LTE) network, a 5G (e.g., NR)network, and a beyond-5G network. Although the wireless devices 100 a to100 f may communicate with each other through the BSs 200/network 300,the wireless devices 100 a to 100 f may perform direct communication(e.g., sidelink communication) with each other without passing throughthe BSs/network. For example, the vehicles 100 b-1 and 100 b-2 mayperform direct communication (e.g. Vehicle-to-Vehicle(V2V)/Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication). The IoT device (e.g.,a sensor) may perform direct communication with other IoT devices (e.g.,sensors) or other wireless devices 100 a to 100 f.

Wireless communication/connections 150 a and 150 b maybe establishedbetween the wireless devices 100 a to 100 f/BS 200-BS 200. Herein, thewireless communication/connections maybe established through variousRATs (e.g., 5G NR) such as uplink/downlink communication 150 a andsidelink communication 150 b (or D2D communication). The wirelessdevices and the BSs/the wireless devices may transmit/receive radiosignals to/from each other through the wirelesscommunication/connections 150 a and 150 b. For example, the wirelesscommunication/connections 150 a and 150 b may transmit/receive signalsthrough various physical channels. To this end, at least a part ofvarious configuration information configuring processes, various signalprocessing processes (e.g., channel encoding/decoding,modulation/demodulation, and resource mapping/demapping), and resourceallocating processes, for transmitting/receiving radio signals, may beperformed based on the various proposals of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating examples of communication deviceswhich can perform a method according to the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, a first wireless device 100 and a second wirelessdevice 200 may transmit/receive radio signals to/from an external devicethrough a variety of RATs (e.g., LTE and NR). In FIG. 2, {the firstwireless device 100 and the second wireless device 200} may correspondto {the wireless device 100 a to 100 f and the BS 200} and/or {thewireless device 100 a to 100 f and the wireless device 100 a to 100 f}of FIG. 1.

The first wireless device 100 may include one or more processors 102 andone or more memories 104 and additionally further include one or moretransceivers 106 and/or one or more antennas 108. The processor(s) 102may control the memory(s) 104 and/or the transceiver(s) 106 and may beconfigured to implement the functions, procedures, and/or methodsdescribed in the present disclosure. For example, the processor(s) 102may process information within the memory(s) 104 to generate firstinformation/signals and then transmit radio signals including the firstinformation/signals through the transceiver(s) 106. The processor(s) 102may receive radio signals including second information/signals throughthe transceiver 106 and then store information obtained by processingthe second information/signals in the memory(s) 104. The memory(s) 104may be connected to the processor(s) 102 and may store a variety ofinformation related to operations of the processor(s) 102. For example,the memory(s) 104 may store software code including commands forperforming a part or the entirety of processes controlled by theprocessor(s) 102 or for performing the procedures and/or methodsdescribed in the present disclosure. Herein, the processor(s) 102 andthe memory(s) 104 may be a part of a communication modem/circuit/chipdesigned to implement RAT (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver(s) 106maybe connected to the processor(s) 102 and transmit and/or receiveradio signals through one or more antennas 108. Each of thetransceiver(s) 106 may include a transmitter and/or a receiver. Thetransceiver (s) 106 may be interchangeably used with radio frequency(RF) unit(s). In the present invention, the wireless device mayrepresent a communication modem/circuit/chip.

The second wireless device 200 may include one or more processors 202and one or more memories 204 and additionally further include one ormore transceivers 206 and/or one or more antennas 208. The processor(s)202 may control the memory(s) 204 and/or the transceiver(s) 206 and maybe configured to implement the functions, procedures, and/or methodsdescribed in the present disclosure. For example, the processor(s) 202may process information within the memory(s) 204 to generate thirdinformation/signals and then transmit radio signals including the thirdinformation/signals through the transceiver(s) 206. The processor(s) 202may receive radio signals including fourth information/signals throughthe transceiver(s) 106 and then store information obtained by processingthe fourth information/signals in the memory(s) 204. The memory(s) 204may be connected to the processor(s) 202 and may store a variety ofinformation related to operations of the processor(s) 202. For example,the memory(s) 204 may store software code including commands forperforming a part or the entirety of processes controlled by theprocessor(s) 202 or for performing the procedures and/or methodsdescribed in the present disclosure. Herein, the processor(s) 202 andthe memory(s) 204 may be a part of a communication modem/circuit/chipdesigned to implement RAT (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver(s) 206maybe connected to the processor(s) 202 and transmit and/or receiveradio signals through one or more antennas 208. Each of thetransceiver(s) 206 may include a transmitter and/or a receiver. Thetransceiver(s) 206 may be interchangeably used with RF unit(s). In thepresent invention, the wireless device may represent a communicationmodem/circuit/chip.

Hereinafter, hardware elements of the wireless devices 100 and 200 willbe described more specifically. One or more protocol layers may beimplemented by, without being limited to, one or more processors 102 and202. For example, the one or more processors 102 and 202 may implementone or more layers (e.g., functional layers such as PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP,RRC, and SDAP). The one or more processors 102 and 202 may generate oneor more Protocol Data Units (PDUs) and/or one or more Service Data Unit(SDUs) according to the functions, procedures, proposals, and/or methodsdisclosed in the present disclosure. The one or more processors 102 and202 may generate messages, control information, data, or informationaccording to the functions, procedures, proposals, and/or methodsdisclosed in the present disclosure. The one or more processors 102 and202 may generate signals (e.g., baseband signals) including PDUs, SDUs,messages, control information, data, or information according to thefunctions, procedures, proposals, and/or methods disclosed in thepresent disclosure and provide the generated signals to the one or moretransceivers 106 and 206. The one or more processors 102 and 202 mayreceive the signals (e.g., baseband signals) from the one or moretransceivers 106 and 206 and acquire the PDUs, SDUs, messages, controlinformation, data, or information according to the functions,procedures, proposals, and/or methods disclosed in the presentdisclosure.

The one or more processors 102 and 202 may be referred to ascontrollers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, or microcomputers. Theone or more processors 102 and 202 may be implemented by hardware,firmware, software, or a combination thereof. As an example, one or moreApplication Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), one or more DigitalSignal Processors (DSPs), one or more Digital Signal Processing Devices(DSPDs), one or more Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), or one or moreField Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) may be included in the one ormore processors 102 and 202. The functions, procedures, proposals,and/or methods disclosed in the present disclosure maybe implementedusing firmware or software and the firmware or software may beconfigured to include the modules, procedures, or functions. Firmware orsoftware configured to perform the functions, procedures, proposals,and/or methods disclosed in the present disclosure may be included inthe one or more processors 102 and 202 or stored in the one or morememories 104 and 204 so as to be driven by the one or more processors102 and 202. The functions, procedures, proposals, and/or methodsdisclosed in the present disclosure maybe implemented using firmware orsoftware in the form of code, commands, and/or a set of commands.

The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be connected to the one or moreprocessors 102 and 202 and store various types of data, signals,messages, information, programs, code, instructions, and/or commands.The one or more memories 104 and 204 maybe configured by Read-OnlyMemories (ROMs), Random Access Memories (RAMs), Electrically ErasableProgrammable Read-Only Memories (EPROMs), flash memories, hard drives,registers, cash memories, computer-readable storage media, and/orcombinations thereof. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may belocated at the interior and/or exterior of the one or more processors102 and 202. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be connected tothe one or more processors 102 and 202 through various technologies suchas wired or wireless connection.

The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may transmit user data, controlinformation, and/or radio signals/channels, mentioned in the methodsand/or operational flowcharts of the present disclosure, to one or moreother devices. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive userdata, control information, and/or radio signals/channels, mentioned inthe functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and/or operationalflowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, from one or more otherdevices. For example, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may beconnected to the one or more processors 102 and 202 and transmit andreceive radio signals. For example, the one or more processors 102 and202 may perform control so that the one or more transceivers 106 and 206may transmit user data, control information, or radio signals to one ormore other devices. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may performcontrol so that the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receiveuser data, control information, or radio signals from one or more otherdevices. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be connected tothe one or more antennas 108 and 208 and the one or more transceivers106 and 206 may be configured to transmit and receive user data, controlinformation, and/or radio signals/channels, mentioned in the functions,procedures, proposals, methods, and/or operational flowcharts disclosedin the present disclosure, through the one or more antennas 108 and 208.In the present disclosure, the one or more antennas may be a pluralityof physical antennas or a plurality of logical antennas (e.g., antennaports). The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may convert receivedradio signals/channels etc. from RF band signals into baseband signalsin order to process received user data, control information, radiosignals/channels, etc. using the one or more processors 102 and 202. Theone or more transceivers 106 and 206 may convert the user data, controlinformation, radio signals/channels, etc. processed using the one ormore processors 102 and 202 from the base band signals into the RF bandsignals. To this end, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 mayinclude (analog) oscillators and/or filters. For example, thetransceivers 106 and 206 can up-convert OFDM baseband signals to acarrier frequency by their (analog) oscillators and/or filters under thecontrol of the processors 102 and 202 and transmit the up-converted OFDMsignals at the carrier frequency. The transceivers 106 and 206 mayreceive OFDM signals at a carrier frequency and down-convert the OFDMsignals into OFDM baseband signals by their (analog) oscillators and/orfilters under the control of the transceivers 102 and 202.

In the implementations of the present disclosure, a UE may operate as atransmitting device in uplink (UL) and as a receiving device in downlink(DL). In the implementations of the present disclosure, a BS may operateas a receiving device in UL and as a transmitting device in DL.Hereinafter, for convenience of description, it is mainly assumed thatthe first wireless device 100 acts as the UE, and the second wirelessdevice 200 acts as the BS, unless otherwise mentioned or described. Forexample, the processor(s) 102 connected to, mounted on or launched inthe first wireless device 100 may be configured to perform the UEbehaviour according to an implementation of the present disclosure orcontrol the transceiver (s) 106 to perform the UE behaviour according toan implementation of the present disclosure. The processor(s) 202connected to, mounted on or launched in the second wireless device 200may be configured to perform the BS behaviour according to animplementation of the present disclosure or control the transceiver(s)206 to perform the BS behaviour according to an implementation of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates another example of a wireless device which canperform implementations of the present invention. The wireless devicemay be implemented in various forms according to a use-case/service(refer to FIG. 1).

Referring to FIG. 3, wireless devices 100 and 200 may correspond to thewireless devices 100 and 200 of FIG. 2 and maybe configured by variouselements, components, units/portions, and/or modules. For example, eachof the wireless devices 100 and 200 may include a communication unit110, a control unit 120, a memory unit 130, and additional components140. The communication unit may include a communication circuit 112 andtransceiver(s) 114. For example, the communication circuit 112 mayinclude the one or more processors 102 and 202 of FIG. 2 and/or the oneor more memories 104 and 204 of FIG. 2. For example, the transceiver(s)114 may include the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 of FIG. 2and/or the one or more antennas 108 and 208 of FIG. 2. The control unit120 is electrically connected to the communication unit 110, the memory130, and the additional components 140 and controls overall operation ofthe wireless devices. For example, the control unit 120 may control anelectric/mechanical operation of the wireless device based onprograms/code/commands/information stored in the memory unit 130. Thecontrol unit 120 may transmit the information stored in the memory unit130 to the exterior (e.g., other communication devices) via thecommunication unit 110 through a wireless/wired interface or store, inthe memory unit 130, information received through the wireless/wiredinterface from the exterior (e.g., other communication devices) via thecommunication unit 110.

The additional components 140 may be variously configured according totypes of wireless devices. For example, the additional components 140may include at least one of a power unit/battery, input/output (I/O)unit (e.g. audio I/O port, video I/O port), a driving unit, and acomputing unit. The wireless device may be implemented in the form of,without being limited to, the robot (100 a of FIG. 1), the vehicles (100b-1 and 100 b-2 of FIG. 1), the XR device (100 c of FIG. 1), thehand-held device (100 d of FIG. 1), the home appliance (100 e of FIG.1), the IoT device (100 f of FIG. 1), a digital broadcast terminal, ahologram device, a public safety device, an MTC device, a medicinedevice, a Fintech device (or a finance device), a security device, aclimate/environment device, the AI server/device (400 of FIG. 1), theBSs (200 of FIG. 1), a network node, etc. The wireless device maybe usedin a mobile or fixed place according to a use-example/service.

In FIG. 3, the entirety of the various elements, components,units/portions, and/or modules in the wireless devices 100 and 200 maybe connected to each other through a wired interface or at least a partthereof may be wirelessly connected through the communication unit 110.For example, in each of the wireless devices 100 and 200, the controlunit 120 and the communication unit 110 may be connected by wire and thecontrol unit 120 and first units (e.g., 130 and 140) may be wirelesslyconnected through the communication unit 110. Each element, component,unit/portion, and/or module within the wireless devices 100 and 200 mayfurther include one or more elements. For example, the control unit 120may be configured by a set of one or more processors. As an example, thecontrol unit 120 maybe configured by a set of a communication controlprocessor, an application processor, an electronic control unit (ECU), agraphical processing unit, and a memory control processor. As anotherexample, the memory 130 maybe configured by a random access memory(RAM), a dynamic RAM (DRAM), a read only memory (ROM)), a flash memory,a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, and/or a combination thereof.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of protocol stacks in a 3GPP basedwireless communication system.

In particular, FIG. 4(a) illustrates an example of a radio interfaceuser plane protocol stack between a UE and a base station (B S) and FIG.4(b) illustrates an example of a radio interface control plane protocolstack between a UE and a BS. The control plane refers to a path throughwhich control messages used to manage call by a UE and a network aretransported. The user plane refers to a path through which datagenerated in an application layer, for example, voice data or Internetpacket data are transported. Referring to FIG. 4(a), the user planeprotocol stack maybe divided into a first layer (Layer 1) (i.e., aphysical (PHY) layer) and a second layer (Layer 2). Referring to FIG.4(b), the control plane protocol stack maybe divided into Layer 1 (i.e.,a PHY layer), Layer 2, Layer 3 (e.g., a radio resource control (RRC)layer), and a non-access stratum (NAS) layer. Layer 1, Layer 2 and Layer3 are referred to as an access stratum (AS).

The NAS control protocol is terminated in an access management function(AMF) on the network side, and performs functions such asauthentication, mobility management, security control and etc.

In the 3GPP LTE system, the layer 2 is split into the followingsublayers: medium access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), andpacket data convergence protocol (PDCP). In the 3GPP New Radio (NR)system, the layer 2 is split into the following sublayers: MAC, RLC,PDCP and SDAP. The PHY layer offers to the MAC sublayer transportchannels, the MAC sublayer offers to the RLC sublayer logical channels,the RLC sublayer offers to the PDCP sublayer RLC channels, the PDCPsublayer offers to the SDAP sublayer radio bearers. The SDAP sublayeroffers to 5G Core Network quality of service (QoS) flows.

In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of SDAP include:mapping between a QoS flow and a data radio bearer; marking QoS flow ID(QFI) in both DL and UL packets. A single protocol entity of SDAP isconfigured for each individual PDU session.

In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the RRCsublayer include: broadcast of system information related to AS and NAS;paging initiated by 5G core (5GC) or NG-RAN; establishment, maintenanceand release of an RRC connection between the UE and NG-RAN; securityfunctions including key management; establishment, configuration,maintenance and release of signalling radio bearers (SRBs) and dataradio bearers (DRBs); mobility functions (including: handover andcontext transfer; UE cell selection and reselection and control of cellselection and reselection; Inter-RAT mobility); QoS managementfunctions; UE measurement reporting and control of the reporting;detection of and recovery from radio link failure; NAS message transferto/from NAS from/to UE.

In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the PDCPsublayer for the user plane include: sequence numbering; headercompression and decompression: ROHC only; transfer of user data;reordering and duplicate detection; in-order delivery; PDCP PDU routing(in case of split bearers); retransmission of PDCP SDUs; ciphering,deciphering and integrity protection; PDCP SDU discard; PDCPre-establishment and data recovery for RLC AM; PDCP status reporting forRLC AM; duplication of PDCP PDUs and duplicate discard indication tolower layers. The main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer forthe control plane include: sequence numbering; ciphering, decipheringand integrity protection; transfer of control plane data; reordering andduplicate detection; in-order delivery; duplication of PDCP PDUs andduplicate discard indication to lower layers.

The RLC sublayer supports three transmission modes: Transparent Mode(TM); Unacknowledged Mode (UM); and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLCconfiguration is per logical channel with no dependency on numerologiesand/or transmission durations. In the 3GPP NR system, the main servicesand functions of the RLC sublayer depend on the transmission mode andinclude: Transfer of upper layer PDUs; sequence numbering independent ofthe one in PDCP (UM and AM); error correction through ARQ (AM only);segmentation (AM and UM) and re-segmentation (AM only) of RLC SDUs;reassembly of SDU (AM and UM); duplicate detection (AM only); RLC SDUdiscard (AM and UM); RLC re-establishment; protocol error detection (AMonly).

In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the MACsublayer include: mapping between logical channels and transportchannels; multiplexing/de-multiplexing of MAC SDUs belonging to one ordifferent logical channels into/from transport blocks (TB) deliveredto/from the physical layer on transport channels; scheduling informationreporting; error correction through HARQ (one HARQ entity per cell incase of carrier aggregation (CA)); priority handling between UEs bymeans of dynamic scheduling; priority handling between logical channelsof one UE by means of logical channel prioritization; padding. A singleMAC entity may support multiple numerologies, transmission timings andcells. Mapping restrictions in logical channel prioritization controlwhich numerology(ies), cell(s), and transmission timing(s) a logicalchannel can use. Different kinds of data transfer services are offeredby MAC. To accommodate different kinds of data transfer services,multiple types of logical channels are defined i.e. each supportingtransfer of a particular type of information. Each logical channel typeis defined by what type of information is transferred. Logical channelsare classified into two groups: Control Channels and Traffic Channels.Control channels are used for the transfer of control plane informationonly, and traffic channels are used for the transfer of user planeinformation only. Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) is a downlink logicalchannel for broadcasting system control information, paging ControlChannel (PCCH) is a downlink logical channel that transfers paginginformation, system information change notifications and indications ofongoing PWS broadcasts, Common Control Channel (CCCH) is a logicalchannel for transmitting control information between UEs and network andused for UEs having no RRC connection with the network, and DedicatedControl Channel (DCCH) is a point-to-point bi-directional logicalchannel that transmits dedicated control information between a UE andthe network and used by UEs having an RRC connection. Dedicated TrafficChannel (DTCH) is a point-to-point logical channel, dedicated to one UE,for the transfer of user information. ADTCH can exist in both uplink anddownlink. In Downlink, the following connections between logicalchannels and transport channels exist: BCCH can be mapped to BCH; BCCHcan be mapped to downlink shared channel (DL-SCH); PCCH can be mapped toPCH; CCCH can be mapped to DL-SCH; DCCH can be mapped to DL-SCH; andDTCH can be mapped to DL-SCH. In Uplink, the following connectionsbetween logical channels and transport channels exist: CCCH can bemapped to uplink shared channel (UL-SCH); DCCH can be mapped to UL-SCH;and DTCH can be mapped to UL-SCH.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a frame structure in a 3GPP basedwireless communication system.

The frame structure illustrated in FIG. 5 is purely exemplary and thenumber of subframes, the number of slots, and/or the number of symbolsin a frame may be variously changed. In the 3GPP based wirelesscommunication system, OFDM numerologies (e.g., subcarrier spacing (SCS),transmission time interval (TTI) duration) may be differently configuredbetween a plurality of cells aggregated for one UE. For example, if a UEis configured with different SCSs for cells aggregated for the cell, an(absolute time) duration of a time resource (e.g. a subframe, a slot, ora TTI) including the same number of symbols may be different among theaggregated cells. Herein, symbols may include OFDM symbols (or CP-OFDMsymbols), SC-FDMA symbols (or discrete Fourier transform-spread-OFDM(DFT-s-OFDM) symbols).

Referring to FIG. 5, downlink and uplink transmissions are organizedinto frames. Each frame has T_(f)=10 ms duration. Each frame is dividedinto two half-frames, where each of the half-frames has 5 ms duration.Each half-frame consists of 5 subframes, where the duration T_(sf) persubframe is 1 ms. Each subframe is divided into slots and the number ofslots in a subframe depends on a subcarrier spacing. Each slot includes14 or 12 OFDM symbols based on a cyclic prefix (CP). In a normal CP,each slot includes 14 OFDM symbols and, in an extended CP, each slotincludes 12 OFDM symbols. The numerology is based on exponentiallyscalable subcarrier spacing Δf=2^(u)*15 kHz. The following table showsthe number of OFDM symbols per slot, the number of slots per frame, andthe number of slots per for the normal CP, according to the subcarriersnaring Δf=2^(u)*15 kHz

TABLE 1 u N^(slot) _(symb) N^(frame, u) _(slot) N^(subframe, u) _(slot)0 14 10 1 1 14 20 2 2 14 40 4 3 14 80 8 4 14 160 16

The following table shows the number of OFDM symbols per slot, thenumber of slots per frame, and the number of slots per for the extendedCP, according to the subcarrier spacing Δf=2^(u)*15 kHz.

TABLE 2 u N^(slot) _(symb) N^(frame, u) _(slot) N^(subframe, u) _(slot)2 12 40 4

A slot includes plural symbols (e.g., 14 or 12 symbols) in the timedomain. For each numerology (e.g. subcarrier spacing) and carrier, aresource grid of N^(size,u) _(grid,x)*N^(RB) _(SC) subcarriers andN^(subframe,u) _(symb) OFDM symbols is defined, starting at commonresource block (CRB) N^(start,u) _(grid) indicated by higher-layersignaling (e.g. radio resource control (RRC) signaling), whereN^(size,u) _(grid,x) is the number of resource blocks in the resourcegrid and the subscript x is DL for downlink and UL for uplink. N^(RB)_(SC) is the number of subcarriers per resource blocks. In the 3GPPbased wireless communication system, N^(RB) _(SC) is 12 generally. Thereis one resource grid for a given antenna port p, subcarrier spacingconfiguration u, and transmission direction (DL or UL). The carrierbandwidth N^(size,u) _(grid) for subcarrier spacing configuration u isgiven by the higher-layer parameter (e.g. RRC parameter). Each elementin the resource grid for the antenna port p and the subcarrier spacingconfiguration u is referred to as a resource element (RE) and onecomplex symbol maybe mapped to each RE. Each RE in the resource grid isuniquely identified by an index kin the frequency domain and an index 1representing a symbol location relative to a reference point in the timedomain. In the 3GPP based wireless communication system, a resourceblock is defined by 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain.

In the 3GPP NR system, resource blocks are classified into CRBs andphysical resource blocks (PRBs). CRBs are numbered from 0 and upwards inthe frequency domain for subcarrier spacing configuration u. The centerof subcarrier 0 of CRB 0 for subcarrier spacing configuration ucoincides with ‘point A’ which serves as a common reference point forresource block grids. In the 3GPP NR system, PRBs are defined within abandwidth part (BWP) and numbered from 0 to N^(sizeBWP,i)−1, where itsthe number of the bandwidth part. The relation between the physicalresource block n_(PRB) in the bandwidth part i and the common resourceblock n_(CRB) is as follows: n_(PRB)=n_(CRB)+N^(size) _(BWP,i), whereN^(size) _(BWP,i) is the common resource block where bandwidth partstarts relative to CRB 0. The BWP includes a plurality of consecutiveresource blocks. A carrier may include a maximum of N (e.g., 5) BWPs. AUE maybe configured with one or more BWPs on a given component carrier.Only one BWP among BWPs configured to the UE can active at a time. Theactive BWP defines the UE's operating bandwidth within the cell'soperating bandwidth.

NR frequency bands are defined as 2 types of frequency range, FR1 andFR2. FR2 is may also called millimeter wave(mmW). The frequency rangesin which NR can operate are identified as described in Table 3.

TABLE 3 Frequency Range Corresponding designation frequency rangeSubcarrier Spacing FR1  450 MHz-7125 MHz  15, 30, 60 kHz FR2 24250MHz-52600 MHz 60, 120, 240 kHz

FIG. 6 illustrates a data flow example in the 3GPP NR system.

In FIG. 6, “RB” denotes a radio bearer, and “H” denotes a header. Radiobearers are categorized into two groups: data radio bearers (DRB) foruser plane data and signalling radio bearers (SRB) for control planedata. The MAC PDU is transmitted/received using radio resources throughthe PHY layer to/from an external device. The MAC PDU arrives to the PHYlayer in the form of a transport block.

In the PHY layer, the uplink transport channels UL-SCH and RACH aremapped to physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and physical randomaccess channel (PRACH), respectively, and the downlink transportchannels DL-SCH, BCH and PCH are mapped to physical downlink sharedchannel (PDSCH), physical broad cast channel (PBCH) and PDSCH,respectively. In the PHY layer, uplink control information (UCI) ismapped to PUCCH, and downlink control information (DCI) is mapped toPDCCH. A MAC PDU related to UL-SCH is transmitted by a UE via a PUSCHbased on an UL grant, and a MAC PDU related to DL-SCH is transmitted bya BS via a PDSCH based on a DL assignment.

In order to transmit data unit(s) of the present disclosure on UL-SCH, aUE shall have uplink resources available to the UE. In order to receivedata unit(s) of the present disclosure on DL-SCH, a UE shall havedownlink resources available to the UE. The resource allocation includestime domain resource allocation and frequency domain resourceallocation. In the present disclosure, uplink resource allocation isalso referred to as uplink grant, and downlink resource allocation isalso referred to as downlink assignment. An uplink grant is eitherreceived by the UE dynamically on PDCCH, in a Random Access Response, orconfigured to the UE semi-persistently by RRC. Downlink assignment iseither received by the UE dynamically on the PDCCH, or configured to theUE semi-persistently by RRC signaling from the BS.

In UL, the BS can dynamically allocate resources to UEs via the CellRadio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) on PDCCH(s). A UE alwaysmonitors the PDCCH (s) in order to find possible grants for uplinktransmission when its downlink reception is enabled (activity governedby discontinuous reception (DRX) when configured). In addition, withConfigured Grants, the BS can allocate uplink resources for the initialHARQ transmissions to UEs. Two types of configured uplink grants aredefined: Type 1 and Type 2. With Type 1, RRC directly provides theconfigured uplink grant (including the periodicity). With Type 2, RRCdefines the periodicity of the configured uplink grant while PDCCHaddressed to Configured Scheduling RNTI (CS-RNTI) can either signal andactivate the configured uplink grant, or deactivate it; i.e. a PDCCHaddressed to CS-RNTI indicates that the uplink grant can be implicitlyreused according to the periodicity defined by RRC, until deactivated.

In DL, the BS can dynamically allocate resources to UEs via the C-RNTIon PDCCH(s). A UE always monitors the PDCCH(s) in order to find possibleassignments when its downlink reception is enabled (activity governed byDRX when configured). In addition, with Semi-Persistent Scheduling(SPS), the BS can allocate downlink resources for the initial HARQtransmissions to UEs: RRC defines the periodicity of the configureddownlink assignments while PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI can either signaland activate the configured downlink assignment, or deactivate it. Inother words, a PDC CH addressed to CS-RNTI indicates that the downlinkassignment can be implicitly reused according to the periodicity definedby RRC, until deactivated.

<Resource Allocation by PDCCH (i.e. Resource Allocation by DCI)>

PDCCH can be used to schedule DL transmissions on PDSCH and ULtransmissions on PUSCH, where the downlink control information (DCI) onPDCCH includes: downlink assignments containing at least modulation andcoding format (e.g., modulation and coding scheme (MCS) index IMCS),resource allocation, and hybrid-ARQ information related to DL-SCH; oruplink scheduling grants containing at least modulation and codingformat, resource allocation, and hybrid-ARQ information related toUL-SCH. The size and usage of the DCI carried by one PDCCH are varieddepending on DCI formats. For example, in the 3GPP NR system, DCI format0_0 or DCI format 0_1 is used for scheduling of PUSCH in one cell, andDCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 is used for scheduling of PDSCH in onecell.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of PD SC H time domain resource allocationby PDCCH, and an example of PUSCH time resource allocation by PDCCH.

Downlink control information (DCI) carried by a PDCCH for schedulingPDSCH or PUSCH includes a value m for a row index m+1 to an allocationtable for PDSCH or PUSCH. Either a predefined default PDSCH time domainallocation A, B or C is applied as the allocation table for PDSCH, orRRC configured pdsch-TimeDomainAllocationList is applied as theallocation table for PD SCH. Either a predefined default PUSCH timedomain allocation A is applied as the allocation table for PUSCH, or theRRC configured pusch-TimeDomainAllocationList is applied as theallocation table for PUSCH. Which PD SCH time domain resource allocationconfiguration to apply and which PUSCH time domain resource allocationtable to apply are determined according to a fixed/predefined rule (e.g.Table 5.1.2.1.1-1 in 3GPP TS 38.214v15.3.0, Table 6.1.2.1.1-1 in 3GPP TS38.214v15.3.0).

Each indexed row in PDSCH time domain allocation configurations definesthe slot offset K0, the start and length indicator SLIV, or directly thestart symbol S and the allocation length L, and the PDSCH mapping typeto be assumed in the PDSCH reception. Each indexed row in PUSCH timedomain allocation configurations defines the slot offset K2, the startand length indicator SLIV, or directly the start symbol S and theallocation length L, and the PUS CH mapping type to be assumed in thePUSCH reception. K0 for PDSCH, or K2 for PUSCH is the timing differencebetween a slot with a PDCCH and a slot with PDSCH or PUSCH correspondingto the PDCCH. SLIV is a joint indication of starting symbol S relativeto the start of the slot with PDSCH or PUSCH, and the number L ofconsecutive symbols counting from the symbol S. For PDSCH/PUSCH mappingtype, there are two mapping types: one is Mapping Type A wheredemodulation reference signal (DMRS) is positioned in 3rd or 4th symbolof a slot depending on the RRC signaling, and other one is Mapping TypeB where D MRS is positioned in the first allocated symbol.

The scheduling DCI includes the Frequency domain resource assignmentfield which provides assignment information on resource blocks used forPDSCH or PU SCH. For example, the Frequency domain resource assignmentfield may provide a UE with information on a cell for PDSCH or PUSCHtransmission, information on a bandwidth part for PDSCH or PUSCHtransmission, information on resource blocks for PDSCH or PUSCHtransmission.

<Resource Allocation by RRC>

As mentioned above, in uplink, there are two types of transmissionwithout dynamic grant: configured grant Type 1 where an uplink grant isprovided by RRC, and stored as configured grant; and configured grantType 2 where an uplink grant is provided by PDCCH, and stored or clearedas configured uplink grant based on L1 signaling indicating configureduplink grant activation or deactivation. Type 1 and Type 2 areconfigured by RRC per serving cell and per BWP. Multiple configurationscan be active simultaneously only on different serving cells. For Type2, activation and deactivation are independent among the serving cells.For the same serving cell, the MAC entity is configured with either Type1 or Type 2.

A UE is provided with at least the following parameters via RRCsignaling from a BS when the configured grant type 1 is configured:

-   -   cs-RNTI which is CS-RNTI for retransmission;    -   periodicity which provides periodicity of the configured grant        Type 1;    -   timeDomainOffset which represents offset of a resource with        respect to SFN=0 in time domain;    -   timeDomainAllocation value m which provides a row index m+1        pointing to an allocation table, indicating a combination of a        start symbol S and length L and PU SC H mapping type;    -   frequencyDomainAllocation which provides frequency domain        resource allocation; and    -   mcsAndTBS which provides IMCS representing the modulation order,        target code rate and transport block size. Upon configuration of        a configured grant Type 1 for a serving cell by RRC, the UE        stores the uplink grant provided by RRC as a configured uplink        grant for the indicated serving cell, and initialise or        re-initialise the configured uplink grant to start in the symbol        according to time DomainOffset and S (derived from SLIV), and to        reoccur with periodicity. After an uplink grant is configured        for a configured grant Type 1, the UE considers that the uplink        grant recurs associated with each symbol for which:        [(SFN*numberOfSlotsPerFrame (numberOfSymbolsPerSlot)+(slot        number in the frame×numberOfSymbolsPerSlot)+symbol number in the        slot]=(timeDomainOffset*numberOfSymbolsPerSlot+S+N*periodicity)        modulo (1024*numberOfSlotsPerFrame*numberOfSymbolsPerSlot), for        all N>=0.

A UE is provided with at least the following parameters via RRCsignaling from a BS when the configured gran Type 2 is configured:

-   -   cs-RNTI which is CS-RNTI for activation, deactivation, and        retransmission; and    -   periodicity which provides periodicity of the configured grant        Type 2. The actual uplink grant is provided to the UE by the PD        C CH (addressed to CS-RNTI). After an uplink grant is configured        for a configured grant Type 2, the UE considers that the uplink        grant recurs associated with each symbol for which:        [(SFN*numberOfSlotsPerFrame*numberOfSymbolsPerSlot)+(slot number        in the frame*numberOfSymbolsPerSlot)+symbol number in the        slot]=[(SFNstarttime*numberOfSlotsPerFrame*numberOfSymbolsPerSlot+slotstarttime*numberOfSymbolsPerSlot+symbol_(starttime))+N*periodicity]        modulo (1024×numberOfSlotsPerFrame*numberOfSymbolsPerSlot), for        all N>=0, where SFN_(startime), slot_(starttime), and        symbol_(starttime) are the SFN, slot, and symbol, respectively,        of the first transmission opportunity of PUSCH where the        configured uplink grant was (re-)initialised.        numberOfSlotsPerFrame and numberOfSymbolsPerSlot refer to the        number of consecutive slots per frame and the number of        consecutive OFDM symbols per slot, respectively.

For configured uplink grants, the HARQ Process ID associated with thefirst symbol of a UL transmission is derived from the followingequation:

HARQ Process ID=[floor(CURRENT_symbol/periodicity)]modulonrofHARQProcesses

-   -   where        CURRENT_symbol=(SFN×numberOfSlotsPerFrame×numberOfSymbolsPerSlot+slot        number in the frame×numberOfSymbolsPerSlot+symbol number in the        slot), and numberOfSlotsPerFrame and numberOfSymbolsPerSlot        refer to the number of consecutive slots per frame and the        number of consecutive symbols per slot, respectively as        specified in TS 38.211. CURRENT_symbol refers to the symbol        index of the first transmission occasion of a repetition bundle        that takes place. A HARQ process is configured for a configured        uplink grant if the configured uplink grant is activated and the        associated HARQ process ID is less than nrofHARQ-Processes.

For downlink, a UE may be configured with semi-persistent scheduling(SPS) per serving cell and per BWP by RRC signaling from a BS. Multipleconfigurations can be active simultaneously only on different servingcells. Activation and deactivation of the DL SPS are independent amongthe serving cells. For DLSPS, a DL assignment is provided to the UE byPDCCH, and stored or cleared based on L1 signaling indicating SPSactivation or deactivation. A UE is provided with the followingparameters via RRC signaling from a BS when SPS is configured:

-   -   cs-RNTI which is CS-RNTI for activation, deactivation, and        retransmission;    -   nrofHARQ-Processes: which provides the number of configured HARQ        processes for SPS;    -   periodicity which provides periodicity of configured downlink        assignment for SPS.

When SPS is released by upper layers, all the correspondingconfigurations shall be released.

After a downlink assignment is configured for SPS, the UE considerssequentially that the N^(th) downlink assignment occurs in the slot forwhich:

-   -   (numberOfSlotsPerFrame*SFN+slot number in the        frame)=[(numberOfSlotsPerFrame*SFN_(starttime)+slot_(starttime))+N*periodicity*numberOfSlotsPerFrame/10]        modulo (1024*numberOfSlotsPerFrame), where SFN_(starttime) and        slot_(startime) are the SFN and slot, respectively, of the first        transmission of PDSCH where the configured downlink assignment        was (re-)initialised.

For configured downlink assignments, the HARQ Process ID associated withthe slot where the DL transmission starts is derived from the followingequation:

HARQ Process ID=[floor(CURRENT_slot×10/(numberOfSlotsPerFrame×periodicity))] modulonrofHARQ-Processes

-   -   where CURRENT_slot=[(SFN×numberOfSlotsPerFrame)+slot number in        the frame] and numberOfSlotsPerFrame refers to the number of        consecutive slots per frame as specified in TS38.211.

A UE validates, for scheduling activation or scheduling release, a DLSPS assignment PDCCH or configured UL grant type 2 PDCCH if the cyclicredundancy check (CRC) of a corresponding D CI format is scrambled withCS-RNTI provided by the RRC parameter cs-RNTI and the new data indicatorfield for the enabled transport block is set to 0. Validation of the DCIformat is achieved if all fields for the DCI format are set according toTable 4 or Table 5. Table 4 shows special fields for DL SPS and UL grantType 2 scheduling activation PDCCH validation, and Table 5 shows specialfields for DLSPS and UL grant Type 2 scheduling release PDCCHvalidation.

TABLE 4 DCI format 0_0/0_1 DCI format 1_0 DCI format 1_1 HARQ processset to all ‘0’s set to all ‘0’s set to all ‘0’s number Redundancy set to‘00’ set to ‘00’ For the enabled version transport block: set to ‘00’

TABLE 5 DCI format 0_0 DCI format 1_0 HARQ process number set to all‘0’s set to all ‘0’s Redundancy version set to ‘00’ set to ‘00’Modulation and coding set to all ‘1’s set to all ‘1’s scheme Resourceblock set to all ‘1’s set to all ‘1’s assignment

Actual DL assignment and actual UL grant, and the correspondingmodulation and coding scheme are provided by the resource assignmentfields (e.g. time domain resource assignment field which provides Timedomain resource assignment value m, frequency domain resource assignmentfield which provides the frequency resource block allocation, modulationand coding scheme field) in the DCI format carried by the DLSPS and ULgrant Type 2 scheduling activation PDCCH. If validation is achieved, theUE considers the information in the DCI format as valid activation orvalid release of DL SPS or configured UL grant Type 2.

For UL, the processor(s) 102 of the present disclosure may transmit (orcontrol the transceiver(s) 106 to transmit) the data unit of the presentdisclosure based on the UL grant available to the UE. The processor(s)202 of the present disclosure may receive (or control the transceiver(s)206 to receive) the data unit of the present disclosure based on the ULgrant available to the UE.

For DL, the processor(s) 102 of the present disclosure may receive (orcontrol the transceiver(s) 106 to receive) DL data of the presentdisclosure based on the DL assignment available to the UE. Theprocessor(s) 202 of the present disclosure may transmit (or control thetransceiver(s) 206 to transmit) DL data of the present disclosure basedon the DL assignment available to the UE.

The data unit(s) of the present disclosure is(are) subject to thephysical layer processing at a transmitting side before transmission viaradio interface, and the radio signals carrying the data unit(s) of thepresent disclosure are subject to the physical layer processing at areceiving side. For example, a MAC PDU including the PD CP PDU accordingto the present disclosure may be subject to the physical layerprocessing as follows.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of physical layer processing at atransmitting side.

The following tables show the mapping of the transport channels (TrCHs)and control information to its corresponding physical channels. Inparticular, Table 6 specifies the mapping of the uplink transportchannels to their corresponding physical channels, Table 7 specifies themapping of the uplink control channel information to its correspondingphysical channel, Table 8 specifies the mapping of the downlinktransport channels to their corresponding physical channels, and Table 9specifies the mapping of the downlink control channel information to itscorresponding physical channel.

TABLE 6 TrCH Physical Channel UL-SCH PUSCH RACK PRACH

TABLE 7 Control information Physical Channel UCI PUCCH, PUSCH

TABLE 8 TrCH Physical Channel DL-SCH PDSCH BCH PBCH PCH PDSCH

TABLE 9 Control information Physical Channel DCI PDCCH

<Encoding>

Data and control streams from/to MAC layer are encoded to offertransport and control services over the radio transmission link in thePHY layer. For example, a transport block from MAC layer is encoded intoa codeword at a transmitting side. Channel coding scheme is acombination of error detection, error correcting, rate matching,interleaving and transport channel or control information mappingonto/splitting from physical channels.

In the 3GPP NR system, following channel coding schemes are used for thedifferent types of TrCH and the different control information types.

TABLE 10 TrCH Coding scheme UL-SCH LDPC DL-SCH PCH BCH Polar code

TABLE 11 Control Information Coding scheme DCI Polar code UCI Block codePolar code

For transmission of a DL transport block (i.e. a DL MAC PDU) or a ULtransport block (i.e. a UL MAC PDU), a transport block CRC sequence isattached to provide error detection for a receiving side. In the 3GPP NRsystem, the communication device uses low density parity check (LDPC)codes in encoding/decoding UL-SCH and DL-SCH. The 3GPP NR systemsupports two LDPC base graphs (i.e. two LD PC base matrixes): LDPC basegraph 1 optimized for small transport blocks and LDPC base graph 2 forlarger transport blocks. Either LDPC base graph 1 or 2 is selected basedon the size of the transport block and coding rate R. The coding rate Ris indicated by the modulation coding scheme (MCS) index IMCS. The MCSindex is dynamically provided to a UE by PDCCH scheduling PUSCH orPDSCH, provided to a UE by PDCCH activating or (re-)initializing the ULconfigured grant 2 or DLSPS, or provided to a UE by RRC signalingrelated to the UL configured grant Type 1. If the CRC attached transportblock is larger than the maximum code block size for the selected LDPCbase graph, the CRC attached transport block may be segmented into codeblocks, and an additional CRC sequence is attached to each code block.The maximum code block sizes for the LDPC base graph 1 and the LDPC basegraph 2 are 8448 bits and 3480 bits, respectively. If the CRC attachedtransport block is not larger than the maximum code block size for theselected LDPC base graph, the CRC attached transport block is encodedwith the selected LDPC base graph. Each code block of the transportblock is encoded with the selected LDPC base graph. The LDPC codedblocks are then individually rat matched. Code block concatenation isperformed to create a codeword for transmission on PDSCH or PUSCH. ForPDSCH, up to 2 codewords (i.e. up to 2 transport blocks) can betransmitted simultaneously on the PDSCH. PUSCH can be used fortransmission of UL-SCH data and layer 1/2 control information. Althoughnot shown in FIG. 8, the layer 1/2 control information may bemultiplexed with the codeword for UL-SCH data.

<Scrambling and Modulation>

The bits of the codeword are scrambled and modulated to generate a blockof complex-valued modulation symbols.

<Layer Mapping>

The complex-valued modulation symbols of the codeword are mapped to oneor more multiple input multiple output (MIMO) layers. A codeword can bemapped to up to 4 layers. A PD SCH can carry two codewords, and thus aPD SCH can support up to 8-layer transmission. A PUSCH supports a singlecodeword, and thus a PUSCH can support up to 4-layer transmission.

<Transform Precoding>

The DL transmission waveform is conventional OFDM using a cyclic prefix(CP). For DL, transform precoding (in other words, discrete Fouriertransform (DFT)) is not applied.

The UL transmission waveform is conventional OFDM using a CP with atransform precoding function performing DFT spreading that can bedisabled or enabled. In the 3GPP NR system, for UL, the transformprecoding can be optionally applied if enabled. The transform precodingis to spread UL data in a special way to reduce peak-to-average powerratio (PAPR) of the waveform. The transform precoding is a form of DFT.In other words, the 3GPP NR system supports two options for UL waveform:one is CP-OFDM (same as DL waveform) and the other one is DFT-s-OFDM.Whether a UE has to use CP-OFDM or DFT-s-OFDM is configured by a BS viaRRC parameters.

<Subcarrier Mapping>

The layers are mapped to antenna ports. In DL, for the layers to antennaports mapping, a transparent manner (non-codebook based) mapping issupported and how beamforming or MIMO precoding is performed istransparent to the UE. In UL, for the layers to antenna ports mapping,both the non-codebook based mapping and a codebook based mapping aresupported.

For each antenna port (i.e. layer) used for transmission of the physicalchannel (e.g. PDSCH, PUSCH), the complex-valued modulation symbols aremapped to subcarriers in resource blocks allocated to the physicalchannel.

<OFDM Modulation>

The communication device at the transmitting side generates atime-continuous OFDM baseband signal on antenna port p and subcarrierspacing configuration u for OFDM symbol 1 in a TTI for a physicalchannel by adding a cyclic prefix (CP) and performing IFFT. For example,for each OFDM symbol, the communication device at the transmitting sidemay perform inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) on the complex-valuedmodulation symbols mapped to resource blocks in the corresponding OFDMsymbol and add a CP to the IFFT-ed signal to generate the OFDM basebandsignal.

<Up-Conversion>

The communication device at the transmitting side up-convers the OFDMbaseband signal for antenna port p, subcarrier spacing configuration uand OFDM symbol 1 to a carrier frequency f0 of a cell to which thephysical channel is assigned.

The processors 102 and 202 in FIG. 2 may be configured to performencoding, scrambling, modulation, layer mapping, transform precoding(for UL), subcarrier mapping, and OFDM modulation. The processors 102and 202 may control the transceivers 106 and 206 connected to theprocessors 102 and 202 to up-convert the OFDM baseband signal onto thecarrier frequency to generate radio frequency (RF) signals. The radiofrequency signals are transmitted through antennas 108 and 208 to anexternal device.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of physical layer processing at areceiving side.

The physical layer processing at the receiving side is basically theinverse processing of the physical layer processing at the transmittingside.

<Frequency Down-Conversion>

The communication device at a receiving side receives RF signals at acarrier frequency through antennas. The transceivers 106 and 206receiving the RF signals at the carrier frequency down-converts thecarrier frequency of the RF signals into the baseband in order to obtainOFDM baseband signals.

<OFDM Demodulation>

The communication device at the receiving side obtains complex-valuedmodulation symbols via CP detachment and FFT. For example, for each OFDMsymbol, the communication device at the receiving side removes a CP fromthe OFDM baseband signals and performs FFT on the CP-removed OFDMbaseband signals to obtain complex-valued modulation symbols for antennaport p, subcarrier spacing u and OFDM symbol 1.

<Subcarrier Demapping>

The subcarrier demapping is performed on the complex-valued modulationsymbols to obtain complex-valued modulation symbols of a correspondingphysical channel. For example, the processor(s) 102 may obtaincomplex-valued modulation symbols mapped to subcarriers belong to PDSCHfrom among complex-valued modulation symbols received in a bandwidthpart. For another example, the processor(s) 202 may obtaincomplex-valued modulation symbols mapped to subcarriers belong to PUSCHfrom among complex-valued modulation symbols received in a bandwidthpart.

<Transform De-Precoding>

Transform de-precoding (e.g. IDFT) is performed on the complex-valuedmodulation symbols of the uplink physical channel if the transformprecoding has been enabled for the uplink physical channel. For thedownlink physical channel and for the uplink physical channel for whichthe transform precoding has been disabled, the transform de-precoding isnot performed.

<Layer Demapping>

The complex-valued modulation symbols are de-mapped into one or twocodewords.

<Demodulation and Descrambling>

The complex-valued modulation symbols of a codeword are demodulated andde-scrambled into bits of the codeword.

<Decoding>

The codeword is decoded into a transport block. For UL-SCH and DL-SCH,either

LD PC base graph 1 or 2 is selected based on the size of the transportblock and coding rate R. The codeword may include one or multiple codedblocks. Each coded block is decoded with the selected LD PC base graphinto a CRC-attached code block or CRC-attached transport block. If codeblock segmentation was performed on a CRC-attached transport block atthe transmitting side, a CRC sequence is removed from each ofCRC-attached code blocks, whereby code blocks are obtained. The codeblocks are concatenated into a CRC-attached transport block. Thetransport block CRC sequence is removed from the CRC-attached transportblock, whereby the transport block is obtained. The transport block isdelivered to the MAC layer.

In the above described physical layer processing at the transmitting andreceiving sides, the time and frequency domain resources (e.g. OFDMsymbol, subcarriers, carrier frequency) related to subcarrier mapping,OFDM modulation and frequency up/down conversion can be determined basedon the resource allocation (e.g., UL grant, DL assignment).

For uplink data transmission, the processor(s) 102 of the presentdisclosure may apply (or control the transceiver(s) 106 to apply) theabove described physical layer processing of the transmitting side tothe data unit of the present disclosure to transmit the data unitwirelessly. For downlink data reception, the processor(s) 102 of thepresent disclosure may apply (or control the transceiver(s) 106 toapply) the above described physical layer processing of the receivingside to received radio signals to obtain the data unit of the presentdisclosure.

For downlink data transmission, the processor(s) 202 of the presentdisclosure may apply (or control the transceiver(s) 206 to apply) theabove described physical layer processing of the transmitting side tothe data unit of the present disclosure to transmit the data unitwirelessly. For uplink data reception, the processor(s) 202 of thepresent disclosure may apply (or control the transceiver(s) 206 toapply) the above described physical layer processing of the receivingside to received radio signals to obtain the data unit of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates operations of the wireless devices based on theimplementations of the present disclosure.

The first wireless device 100 of FIG. 2 may generate firstinformation/signals according to the functions, procedures, and/ormethods described in the present disclosure, and then transmit radiosignals including the first information/signals wirelessly to the secondwireless device 200 of FIG. 2 (S10). The first information/signals mayinclude the data unit(s) (e.g. PDU, SDU, RRC message) of the presentdisclosure. The first wireless device 100 may receive radio signalsincluding second information/signals from the second wireless device 200(S30), and then perform operations based on or according to the secondinformation/signals (S50). The second information/signals may betransmitted by the second wireless device 200 to the first wirelessdevice 100 in response to the first information/signals. The secondinformation/signals may include the data unit(s) (e.g. PDU, SDU, RRCmessage) of the present disclosure. The first information/signals mayinclude contents request information, and the second information/signalsmay include contents specific to the usage of the first wireless device100. Some examples of operations specific to the usages of the wirelessdevices 100 and 200 will be described below.

In some scenarios, the first wireless device 100 may be a hand-helddevice 100 d of FIG. 1, which performs the functions, procedures, and/ormethods described in the present disclosure. The hand-held device 100 dmay acquire information/signals (e.g., touch, text, voice, images, orvideo) input by a user, and convert the acquired information/signalsinto the first information/signals. The hand-held devices 100 d maytransmit the first information/signals to the second wireless device 200(S10). The second wireless device 200 may be any one of the wirelessdevices 100 a to 100 f in FIG. 1 or a BS. The hand-held device 100 d mayreceive the second information/signals from the second wireless device200 (S30), and perform operations based on the secondinformation/signals (S50). For example, the hand-held device 100 d mayoutput the contents of the second information/signals to the user (e.g.in the form of text, voice, images, video, or haptic) through the I/Ounit of the hand-held device 100 d.

In some scenarios, the first wireless device 100 may be a vehicle or anautonomous driving vehicle 100 b, which performs the functions,procedures, and/or methods described in the present disclosure. Thevehicle 100 b may transmit (S10) and receive (S30) signals (e.g. dataand control signals) to and from external devices such as othervehicles, BSs (e.g. gNBs and road side units), and servers, through itscommunication unit (e.g. communication unit 110 of FIG. 1C). The vehicle100 b may include a driving unit, and the driving unit may cause thevehicle 100 b to drive on a road. The driving unit of the vehicle 100 bmay include an engine, a motor, a powertrain, a wheel, a brake, asteering device, etc. The vehicle 100 b may include a sensor unit foracquiring a vehicle state, ambient environment information, userinformation, etc. The vehicle 100 b may generate and transmit the firstinformation/signals to the second wireless device 200 (S10). The firstinformation/signals may include vehicle state information, ambientenvironment information, user information, and etc. The vehicle 100 bmay receive the second information/signals from the second wirelessdevice 200 (S30). The second information/signals may include vehiclestate information, ambient environment information, user information,and etc. The vehicle 100 b may drive on a road, stop, or adjust speed,based on the second information/signals (S50). For example, the vehicle100 b may receive map the second information/signals including data,traffic information data, etc. from an external server (S30). Thevehicle 100 b may generate an autonomous driving path and a driving planbased on the second information/signals, and may move along theautonomous driving path according to the driving plan (e.g.,speed/direction control) (S50). For another example, the control unit orprocessor(s) of the vehicle 100 b may generate a virtual object based onthe map information, traffic information, and vehicle positioninformation obtained through a GPS sensor of the vehicle 100 b and anI/O unit 140 of the vehicle 100 b may display the generated virtualobject in a window in the vehicle 100 b (S50).

In some scenarios, the first wireless device 100 maybe an XR device 100c of FIG. 1, which performs the functions, procedures, and/or methodsdescribed in the present disclosure. The XR device 100 c may transmit(S10) and receive (S30) signals (e.g., media data and control signals)to and from external devices such as other wireless devices, hand-helddevices, or media servers, through its communication unit (e.g.communication unit 110 of FIG. 1C). For example, the XR device 100 ctransmits content request information to another device or media server(S10), and download/stream contents such as films or news from anotherdevice or the media server (S30), and generate, output or display an XRobject (e.g. an AR/VR/MR object), based on the secondinformation/signals received wirelessly, through an I/O unit of the XRdevice (S50).

In some scenarios, the first wireless device 100 maybe a robot 100 a ofFIG. 1, which performs the functions, procedures, and/or methodsdescribed in the present disclosure. The robot 100 a may be categorizedinto an industrial robot, a medical robot, a household robot, a militaryrobot, etc., according to a used purpose or field. The robot 100 a maytransmit (S10) and receive (S30) signals (e.g., driving information andcontrol signals) to and from external devices such as other wirelessdevices, other robots, or control servers, through its communicationunit (e.g. communication unit 110 of FIG. 1C). The secondinformation/signals may include driving information and control signalsfor the robot 100 a. The control unit or processor(s) of the robot 100 amay control the movement of the robot 100 a based on the secondinformation/signals.

In some scenarios, the first wireless device 100 maybe an AI device 400of FIG. 1.

The AI device may be implemented by a fixed device or a mobile device,such as a TV, a projector, a smartphone, a PC, a notebook, a digitalbroadcast terminal, a tablet PC, a wearable device, a Set Top Box (STB),a radio, a washing machine, a refrigerator, a digital signage, a robot,a vehicle, etc. The AI device 400 may transmit (S10) and receive (S30)wired/radio signals (e.g., sensor information, user input, learningmodels, or control signals) to and from external devices such as otherAI devices (e.g., 100 a, . . . , 100 f, 200, or 400 of FIG. 1) or an AIserver (e.g., 400 of FIG. 1) using wired/wireless communicationtechnology. The control unit or processor(s) of the AI device 400 maydetermine at least one feasible operation of the AI device 400, based oninformation which is determined or generated using a data analysisalgorithm or a machine learning algorithm. The AI device 400 may requestthat external devices such as other AI devices or AI server provide theAI device 400 with sensor information, user input, learning models,control signals and etc. (S10). The AI device 400 may receive secondinformation/signals (e.g., sensor information, user input, learningmodels, or control signals) (S30), and the AI device 400 may perform apredicted operation or an operation determined to be preferred among atleast one feasible operation based on the second information/signals(S50).

Hereinafter, Buffer Status reporting (BSR) procedure in the NR system isdescribed.

The BSR procedure is used to provide the serving gNB with informationabout UL data volume in the MAC entity. RRC configures the followingparameters to control the BSR:

-   -   periodicBSR-Timer;    -   retxBSR-Timer;    -   logicalChannelSR-DelayTimerApplied;    -   logicalChannelSR-DelayTimer;    -   logicalChannelSR-Mask;    -   logical ChannelGroup.

Each logical channel maybe allocated to an LCG using thelogicalChannelGroup. The maximum number of LCGs is eight. The MAC entitydetermines the amount of UL data available for a logical channelaccording to the data volume calculation procedure.

Hereinafter, Logical channel prioritization in the NR system isdescribed.

The Logical Channel Prioritization procedure is applied when a newtransmission is performed. RRC controls the scheduling of uplink data bysignalling for each logical channel: priority where an increasingpriority value indicates a lower priority level, prioritisedBitRatewhich sets the Prioritized Bit Rate (PBR), bucketSizeDuration which setsthe Bucket Size Duration (B SD).

The MAC entity shall maintain a variable Bj for each logical channel j.Bj shall be initialized to zero when the related logical channel isestablished, and incremented by the product PBR×TTI duration for eachTTI, where PBR is Prioritized Bit Rate of logical channel j. However,the value of Bj can never exceed the bucket size and if the value of Bjis larger than the bucket size of logical channel j, it shall be set tothe bucket size. The bucket size of a logical channel is equal toPBR×BSD, where PBR and BSD are configured by upper layers.

The MAC entity shall perform the following Logical ChannelPrioritization procedure when a new transmission is performed:

-   -   The MAC entity shall allocate resources to the logical channels        in the following steps 1-3:

Step 1: All the logical channels with Bj>0 are allocated resources in adecreasing priority order. If the PBR of a logical channel is set to“infinity”, the MAC entity shall allocate resources for all the datathat is available for transmission on the logical channel before meetingthe PBR of the lower priority logical channel(s);

Step 2: the MAC entity shall decrement Bj by the total size of MAC SDUsserved to logical channel j in Step 1. Especially, the value of Bj canbe negative.

Step 3: if any resources remain, all the logical channels are served ina strict decreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) untileither the data for that logical channel or the UL grant is exhausted,whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equal priorityshould be served equally.

-   -   The UE shall also follow the rules (1)-(4) below during the        scheduling procedures above

(1) the UE should not segment an RLC SDU (or partially transmitted SDUor retransmitted RLC PDU) if the whole SDU (or partially transmitted SDUor retransmitted RLC PDU) fits into the remaining resources of theassociated MAC entity.

(2) if the UE segments an RLC SDU from the logical channel, it shallmaximize the size of the segment to fill the grant of the associated MACentity as much as possible.

(3) the UE should maximise the transmission of data.

(4) if the MAC entity is given an UL grant size that is equal to orlarger than 4 bytes while having data available for transmission, theMAC entity shall not transmit only padding BSR and/or padding.

The MAC entity shall not generate a MAC PDU for the HARQ entity if thefollowing conditions are satisfied:

-   -   the MAC entity is configured with skipUplinkTxDynamic with value        true and the grant indicated to the HARQ entity was addressed to        a C-RNTI, or the grant indicated to the HARQ entity is a        configured uplink grant; and    -   there is no aperiodic CSI requested for this PUSCH transmission;        and    -   the MAC PDU includes zero MAC SDUs; and    -   the MAC PDU includes only the periodic BSR and there is no data        available for any LCG, or the MAC PDU includes only the padding        BSR.

Logical channels shall be prioritised in accordance with the followingorder (highest priority listed first):

-   -   a) C-RNTI MAC CE or data from UL-CC CH;    -   b) Configured Grant Confirmation MAC CE;    -   c) MAC CE for BSR, with exception of BSR included for padding;    -   d) Single Entry PHR MAC CE or Multiple Entry PHR MAC CE;    -   e) data from any Logical Channel, except data from UL-CCCH;    -   f) MAC CE for Recommended bit rate query;    -   g) MAC CE for BSR included for padding.

In the LTE system and the NR system, Logical channel group (LCG) is usedto trigger and report a buffer size regarding a logical channel. Inspecific, if a logical channel belongs to an LCG, the new data arrivalfor that logical channel triggers a BSR whereas a logical channel notbelonging to any LCG does not trigger a BSR even if the new data arrivesfor that logical channel. The reason was that:

-   -   The logical channel not belonging to any LCG is likely to be of        lower priority so that there is no need to trigger a BSR. For        these kind of lower priority logical channels, it is sufficient        to transmit the data when the received UL grant remains after        including all higher priority logical channel data.    -   The scheduler maybe able to know the characteristics of the        traffic, e.g., data size, periodicity, so that the UE waits        until it is scheduled rather than triggering or reporting a BSR        unnecessarily.

While, IAB (Integrated access and backhaul) based radio access network(RAN) architecture consists of one or more IAB nodes, which supportwireless access to UEs and wirelessly backhauls the access traffic, andone or more IAB donors which provide UE's interface to core network andwireless backhauling functionality to IAB nodes.

FIG. 11 shows an example of IAB based RAN architectures.

Especially, in FIG. 11, the IAB based RAN architectures consist of oneor more IAB nodes, which support wireless access to UEs and wirelesslybackhauls the access traffic, and one or more IAB donors which provideUE's interface to core network and wireless backhauling functionality toIAB nodes. Each adaptation layer of these IAB-nodes and IAB donorscarries the following information in order to identify UE and/or radiobearer for control-plane or user-plane data:

-   -   UE-bearer-specific ID    -   UE-specific ID    -   Route ID, IAB-node or IAB-donor address    -   QoS information

In NR MAC layer, there are two types of BSR format. One is for Short BSRand another is for Long BSR. If more than one LCG has data available fortransmission when a MAC PDU containing a BSR is to be built, a MACentity shall report Long BSR for all LCGs which have data available fortransmission, but if only one LCG has data available for transmission,Short BSR shall be reported.

In this condition, if Long BSR is reported, 1 byte LCG field should bealways included into the Long BSR format regardless of whether how manyLCGs have data available for transmission, i.e., LCG field length isfixed to be able to contain maximum LCG ID.

In NR IAB system, unified design was selected to support 1:1 and N:1bearer mapping together. However, to support 1:1 bearer mapping in IAB,each logical channel (LoCH) should be associated with one bearer atevery hop over the path. This means that if an IAB node supports 100 UEsand each UE has 25 bearers, the IAB node should have at least 250 LoCHsto support 1:1 bearer mapping. With this under-standing, RAN2 identifiedthat the current L CID space and LCG space would not be enough tosupport 1:1 bearer mapping in IAB as shown in 3GPP TR 38.874.

Thus, if LCG space increase, a new BSR format should be defined. If anew BSR format follows current BSR format and possible LCG ID increasesup to 23, 3 byte LCG field should be always included into the BSR formatas there may be 24 configured LCGs.

Unfortunately, however, itis hard to determine whether how many LCID andLCG spaces is needed and the required size of LCID space and LCG spacecan be determined by operator's design. For instance, if small size ofan IAB network is considered, 7 is enough for maximum LCG ID, but ifoperator wants large size of an IAB network, 24 or larger LCG ID andeven much larger LC ID space would be required. This means that anywayLCG space should be defined as large as possible to support big enoughsize of IAB network which operators want and a maximum LC G ID can bedifferently configured according to network design and placement of IABnode.

Considering this, a new BSR format to support the extended LCG ID shouldbe introduced and it should be also defined when the new BSR format forthe extended LCG ID is used because if a new BSR format for the extendedLCG ID is always used, unnecessary overhead cannot be avoided, e.g., ifmaximum LCG ID is 23, the MAC entity has to always use 3 byte LCG fieldeven though only 8 LCGs are configured and used.

Thus, this overhead should be avoided and a new BSR format and methodneed to be considered.

According to the present disclosure, for supporting LCG ID extension, itis suggested that an extended BSR (eBSR) should consist of variable sizeof a LCG field and corresponding Buffer Size field. A UE or IAB node (ora MAC entity at the UE/IAB node) determines the size of the LCG fieldbased on the maximum LCG ID value among the LCG IDs of the LCG which areconfigured to the UE (or the MAC entity at the UE) by a network.

In the following description, it is assumed that an integer among 0 tothe maximum LCG-ID is assigned as an LCG ID for an LCG by a network.

The extended BSR format consists of Buffer Size field, where Buffer Sizefield may be one byte per corresponding LCG. The extended BSR formatconsists of variable size of a LCG field.

-   -   The size of a LCG field can be from 1 byte to X bytes, where the        X bytes depends on the maximum value of LCG ID, which can be        configured to the MAC entity by the network (through layer-2        (L2) or layer-3 (L3) signaling). For example, if the maximum        value of LCG ID is 31, X is equal to 4. Further, if the maximum        value of LCG ID is 15, X is equal to 2.    -   The MAC entity determines the actual size of the LCG field to be        included in the eBSR format based on the maximum value of the        LDG ID among the LCG IDs of the LCG which are actually        configured to the MAC entity. That is, a number of the LCG IDs        is variable according to a number of node served by the MAC        entity. Or, the number of the LCG IDs is variable according to        number flow or a number of radio bearer served by the MAC        entity. The maximum value of LDG ID, which can be configured to        the MAC entity, can be different from the maximum value of the        LCG ID among the LCG IDs of the LCGs which are actually        configured to the MAC entity by the network. In other words, the        maximum number of LCGs, which can be configured to the MAC        entity, can be different from the maximum number of LCGs which        are actually configured to the MAC CE. The maximum value of LCG        ID, which can be configured to the MAC entity maybe predefined        in the system (e.g. as system standards) or configured by the        network.

For example, the maximum value of the LCG ID among the LCG IDs of theLCGs, which are actually configured to the MAC entity, can be 7 whereasthe maximum value of LCG ID, which can be configured to the MAC entity,is 31.

-   -   Further, the size of LCG field is defined as [floor (Y/8) plus        1] bytes, if the maximum value of the LCG ID among the LCG IDs        of the LCGs, which are actually configured to the MAC entity, is        equal to or larger than Y and less than Y+8, where Y is multiple        of 8, i.e., 0, 8, 16, 24, etc.

For example, the size of LCG field is one byte if the maximum value ofthe LDG ID among the LCG IDs of the LCGs, which are actually configuredto the MAC entity, is equal to or larger than 0 and less than 8. Or, thesize of LCG field is two bytes if the maximum value of the LCG ID amongthe LCG IDs of the LCGs, which are actually configured to the MACentity, is equal to or larger than 8 and less than 16.

Similarly, the size of LCG field is three bytes if the maximum value ofthe LCG ID among the LCG IDs of the LCGs, which are actually configuredto the MAC entity, is equal to or larger than 16 and less than 24. Thesize of LCG field is four bytes if the maximum value of the LCG ID amongthe LCG IDs of the LCGs, which are actually configured to the MACentity, is equal to or larger than 24 and less than 32;

Meanwhile, the eBSR format can be used for Long BSR or Long TruncatedBSR.

An LCG field contains a bitmap and each bit in the bitmap is associatedwith LCGi.

For Long BSR, the MAC entity indicates the presence of the Buffer Sizefield corresponding to logical channel group i by LCGi of the LCG field.For Long Truncated BSR, the MAC entity indicates whether the logicalchannel group i has data available by LCGi of the LCG field.

FIG. 12 shows examples of eBSR format according to the presentdisclosure.

Firstly, referring to FIG. 12(a), if the maximum value of the LCG IDamong the LCG IDs of the LCGs, which are actually configured to the MACentity, is equal to or larger than 0 and less than 8, the LCG field isone byte.

Next, referring to FIG. 12(b), if the maximum value of the LCG ID amongthe LCG IDs of the LCGs, which are actually configured to the MACentity, is equal to or larger than 8 and less than 16, the LCG field istwo bytes.

Finally, referring to FIG. 12(c), if the maximum value of the LCG IDamong the LCG IDs of the LCGs, which are actually configured to the MACentity, is equal to or larger than 16 and less than 24, the LCG field isthree bytes.

In the above description, the MAC entity may be a MAC entity at a UE, aMAC entity at an IAB node, or a MAC entity at a network node (e.g., BS).

FIG. 13 shows an example of a BSR procedure according to the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 13, a node (e.g., BS or IAB node) at a network sidemay transmit information on LCG ID configuration to a UE side (e.g. UEor another IAB node) at S101.

The UE/IAB node at the UE side may determine the length for a LCG fieldto be included in a BSR MAC CE at S102, based on a maximum LCG ID valuewhich is (actually) configured to the UE/IAB node at the UE side.

The UE/IAB node at the UE side may generate a BSR MAC CE if there is aBSR to be transmitted at S103. In the invention, the UE/IAB node at theUE side generates the BSR MAC CE to include a LCG field having thelength determined at S102.

The UE/IAB node at the UE side transmits the BSR MAC CE. The BSR MAC CEis included in a MAC PDU to be transmitted over a physical uplinkchannel (e.g. physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) at S104.

When the above suggestion of the present disclosure is applied, theUE/IAB node (more specifically, MAC entity at the UE/IAB node) behavioris as follows.

A UE or IAB node is configured with at least one LCG, which isassociated with an LCG ID by receiving a configuration of LCG via L2 orL3 signaling. The L2 or L3 signaling can be one of the MAC, RLC, PDCP,or RRC signaling.

The MAC entity determines the size of LCG field by checking the maximumvalue of the LCG ID among the LCG IDs of the LCG which are actuallyconfigured to the MAC entity.

In BSR operation, a BSR trigger condition may be the same as legacy BSRconditions. The MAC entity triggers a BSR if any of the following eventsoccur:

1) the MAC entity has new UL data available for a logical channel whichbelongs to an LCG. the new UL data belongs to a logical channel withhigher priority than the priority of any logical channel containingavailable UL data which belong to any LCG, or none of the logicalchannels which belong to an LCG contains any available UL data. In thiscase, the triggered BSR is referred to as Regular BSR.

2) UL resources are allocated and number of padding bits is equal to orlarger than the size of the Buffer Status Report MAC CE plus itssubheader, in which case the BSR is referred to as Padding BSR;

3) retxBSR-Timer expires, and at least one of the logical channels whichbelong to an LCG contains UL data, in which case the BSR is referredbelow to as Regular BSR;

4) periodicBSR-Timer expires, in which case the BSR is referred to asPeriodic BSR.

When the BSR is triggered, the MAC entity according to an example of thepresent disclosure shall report Long BSR or eBSR for all LCGs which havedata available for transmission, if more than one LCG has data availablefor transmission when the MAC PDU containing the BSR is to be built:

While a BSR is pending, if the MAC entity generates a BSR MAC CE usingthe eBSR format, the MAC entity includes LCG field having the size,which is determined as above, i.e., the maximum value of the LCG IDamong the LCG IDs of the LCG which are actually configured to the MACentity.

After generating the BSR MAC CE, the MAC entity transmits the generatedBSR MAC CE. Then the MAC entity may receive an UL grant to transmit theUL data available for a logical channel in response to the transmittedBSR MAC CE, and transmits the UL data from the logical channel which hasdata available for transmission to the network using the received ULgrant.

If the maximum value of the LCG ID among the LCG IDs of the LCGs, whichare actually configured to the MAC entity, is equal to or larger than 0and less than 8, the MAC entity can choose one of legacy Long BSR formathaving one byte LCG field or eBSR format having one byte LCG field.

Alternatively L field which indicates the size of LCG field can beincluded into the BSR MAC CE, i.e., if the value of L field is 1, onebyte of LCG field is used and if the value of L field is 2, two bytes ofLCG field is used. The value of the L field and the size of LCG fieldare determined by the maximum value of the LCG ID among the LCG IDs ofthe LCG which are actually configured to the MAC entity.

When this invention is applied, the network behavior is as follows:

A network node (e.g. BS) may transmit the L2 or L3 signaling includingthe configuration of LCG for configuring a MAC entity for a UE or IABnode. In the following description, an MAC entity for a UE or IAB nodeis referred to as a UE MAC entity. A UE MAC entity is configured in aUE, and may be configured in an IAB node and/or in a network node (e.g.BS).

When a network (e.g. BS) receives a BSR MAC CE using the eBSR formatafter configuring a UE MAC entity with at least one LCG, the network candetermine the size of LCG field in the BSR MAC CE using the eBSR formatbased on the maximum value of the LCG ID among the LCG IDs of the LCGwhich the network actually configures to the UE MAC entity.

For example, when the maximum value of LCG ID, which the network canconfigure to the UE MAC entity, is 31. If the maximum value of the LCGID among the LCG IDs of the LCGs, which the network actually configuresto the UE MAC entity, is 15, the size of LCG field in the BSR MAC CEusing the eBSR format is two bytes.

If the maximum value of the LCG ID among the LCG IDs of the LCGs, whichthe network actually configures to the UE MAC entity, is 23, the size ofLCG field in the BSR MAC CE using the eBSR format is three bytes.

If the maximum value of the LCG ID among the LCG IDs of the LCGs, whichthe network actually configures to the UE MAC entity, is 31, the size ofLCG field in the BSR MAC CE using the eBSR format is four bytes.

In response to the received BSR MAC CE using the eBSR, the networkprovides an UL grant to the UE, and receives the MAC PDU including userdata via the provided UL grant.

FIG. 14 shows another example of a BSR procedure according to thepresent disclosure. In FIG. 14, it is assumed that a network canconfigure LCG ID up to 31, but actually configures LCG ID of a MACentity with 15.

Even though the network can configure LCG ID=31, a UE/IAB node (e.g. aMAC entity at the UE/IAB node) is configured with LCG ID=15 by thenetwork (S201). The MAC entity determines the two byte long of LCG fieldfor a BSR MAC CE (S202) because the maximum value of the LCG ID amongthe LCG IDs of the LCG which are actually configured to the MAC entityis 15.

The MAC entity triggers a BSR (S203) and while generating the BSR MAC CEafter receiving a UL grant (204), the MAC entity includes two bytes ofLCG field into the BSR MAC CE (S205) because the maximum value of theLCG ID among the LCG IDs of the LCG which are actually configured to theMAC entity is 15.

After generating the BSR MAC CE including two byte of LCG field and theassociated Buffer Size information, the MAC entity transmits thegenerated BSR MAC CE using the received UL grant (S206).

According to the present disclosure, when LCG space is extended, therequired additional LCG space can be different according to theplacement of IAB node. For example, if an IAB node is connected to theIAB donor and has lots of child IAB nodes, this IAB node should havelarge number of LCG space to support lots of UE bearers, but if an IABnode is placed at the edge of the IAB network and needs to support onlya few UEs and UE bearers, current LCG space, i.e., 7, would be enough.In this condition, even though each IAB node can be configured withdifferent maximum LCG ID, if all IAB node in an IAB networks use sameextended BSR format for the extended LCG ID, most of all IAB nodes onlyexcept for the IAB nodes where are close to the IAB donor would haveunnecessary overhead whenever reporting BSR.

Further, according to the present disclosure, each IAB node candetermine LCG field length based on the configured maximum LCG ID. Forexample, if 7 is the configured maximum LCG ID, 1 byte LCG field lengthwould be selected for maximum 8 LCGs, which brings the same amount ofLCG field overhead as legacy BSR MAC CE format. But if 23 is theconfigured maximum LDG ID, 3 byte LCG field length would be selected formaximum 24 LCGs. Thereby, each IAB node would be able to avoidunnecessary overhead and select appropriate LCG field length when a BSRis reported, even though the configured maximum LDG ID is different.

According to the implementations of the present disclosure, a UEperforms measurements after transmitting or receiving URLLC trafficsduring a configured measurement gap, thereby satisfying the requirementfor the URLLC service while guaranteeing the UE coverage.

1. A method for transmitting a buffer status report (BSR) by a wirelessnode in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:receiving first logical channel group (LCG) configuration informationincluding identities of LCGs from a network; generating the BSRincluding a LCG field; and transmitting the BSR to the network, whereina length of the LCG field is configured according to a highest value ofthe identities of LCGs.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving second LCG configuration information from the network; andreconfiguring the length of the LCG field according to a highest valueof the identities of LCGs included in the second LCG configurationinformation.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein each bit of the LCG fieldindicates whether buffer size information of a corresponding LCG ispresent or not in the BSR.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein, the lengthof the LCG field is configured to floor (Y/8) plus 1 bytes, when highestvalue of the identities of LCGs is equal to or larger than Y and lessthan Y+8, wherein Y is multiple of
 8. 5. The method of claim 1, whereina number of the identities of LCGs is variable according to a number ofnode served by the wireless node.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein anumber of the identities of LCGs is variable according to a number flowor a number of radio bearer served by the wireless node.
 7. A wirelessnode in a wireless communication system, the wireless node comprising: amemory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory, wherein the atleast one processor is configured to: receive first logical channelgroup (LCG) configuration information including identities of LCGs froma network; generate a buffer status report (BSR)including a LCG field;and transmit the BSR to the network, wherein a length of the LCG fieldis configured according to a highest value of the identities of LCGs. 8.The wireless node of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor isfurther configured to: receive second LCG configuration information fromthe network; and reconfigure the length of the LCG field according to ahighest value of the identities of LCGs included in the second LCGconfiguration information.
 9. The wireless node of claim 7, wherein eachbit of the LCG field indicates whether buffer size information of acorresponding LCG is present or not in the BSR.
 10. The wireless node ofclaim 7, wherein, the length of the LCG field is configured to floor(Y/8) plus 1 bytes, when highest value of the identities of LCGs isequal to or larger than Y and less than Y+8, wherein Y is multiple of 8.11. The wireless node of claim 7, wherein a number of the identities ofLCGs is variable according to a number of node served by the wirelessnode.
 12. The wireless node of claim 7, wherein a number of theidentities of LCGs is variable according to a number flow or a number ofradio bearer served by the wireless node.
 13. The wireless node of claim7, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to implementat least one advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) function based onsignals that control the wireless node.
 14. The method of claim 1,wherein, based on the identities of LCGs being related to an Integratedaccess and backhaul (IAB) node, the highest value of the identities ofLCGs is greater than or equal to
 8. 15. The wireless node of claim 7,wherein, based on the identities of LCGs being related to an Integratedaccess and backhaul (IAB) node, the highest value of the identities ofLCGs is greater than or equal to 8.